Jag hade tänkt skriva en snutt om Lars Vilks uppmärksammade teckningar av muhammed som en rondellhund. Sen läste jag Johan Norbergs text på samma tema, och i enlighet med god vetenskaplig sed så bestämde jag mig för att inte återuppfinna hjulet, utan citerar helt enkelt hans klockrena inlägg här.
”Lilla Torg Liberalerna wonder why I don´t write about the Swedish artist Lars Vilks and Iran´s and Pakistan´s demands that Sweden should punish him for his drawing of Muhammed as a roundabout dog. (This is what makes this sad story hilarious: How do you explain the concept of a roundabout dog for the Mullahs?)
One reason is that I rarely write about things where most people already say the right things. It´s fairly obvious that the day we accept Iran´s standards for what you can and cannot say we´ll end up like…well, Iran. And for them, it´s not really about Muhammed – you can buy images of him in the streets of Teheran if you wish. It´s just about diverting dissatisfaction from their own sick government.
But one thing needs to be said: A lot of people describe Vilks´ attempt to make fun of religion and people who want to ban his drawings as a conflict between free speech and religious freedom, even journalists and some people who defend free speech. That is a total misunderstanding of the concept of religious freedom. Having the freedom to believe in whatever you want does not include a right to dictate what others think and say about those beliefs, just like free speech does not include the right to dictate what others print and say, and the freedom to vote does not include the right to force others to vote for the same party. In the western, liberal tradition, freedom is a ”negative right” – it protects you from coercion from others, it does not give you the right to coerce others. Those who want to punish Vilks are opponents of religious freedom.
Whenever a journalist call this a conflict between those who believe in free spech and those who believe in religious freedom Iran has won a tiny victory.”
Källa: http://johannorberg.net/